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June 25, 2008
ACTIVISM
By Dame Zine
Stop the Spray Grass Roots Activism - Victorious!
 Marin Rock Hall of Fame musicians Bob Weir, Maria Muldaur, Elvin Bishop, Tommy Castro, Austin de Lone, Norton Buffalo and many others entertained a sold-out crowd of 500 on the Sausalito water front on Sunday, June 8th. Following a successful Golden Gate Bridge walk to stop the spray on May 31st, the benefit hoped to stimulate more awareness about pesticide dangers proposed by California's intended aerial spraying program to kill the apple moth.
Grass roots activism succeeded in forcing state agricultural officials to discontinue plans for aerial spraying in urban areas. They will replace aerial spraying in California with the release of 500,000 sterile apple moth insects to reduce the numbers of the apple moth populations, as the nonsterile moths mate with the sterile moths. Curent concern still rages over the proposed ground spraying.
 Tiny Apple Moth Challenges Balance between Humans and Environment
Larvae of the light brown apple moth (LBAM), smaller than a penny, feeds on more than 2,000 plants and trees. Although there is no widespread infestation of the apple moth, it has been spotted in 11 counties in California. "It's not such a nasty pest. You're not going to see a plant succumbing to the light brown apple moth," said botanist Daniel Harder, executive director of the Arboretum at UC Santa Cruz. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has funded CA $74.5 million dollars for the proposed apple moth aerial spraying program to protect its agricultural industry.
Spraying over the Bay Area of the proposed pesticide, called Checkmate, is expected to begin this year in August could continue for five years over San Francisco, Daly City, Colma, Oakland, Piedmont, Emeryville, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Tiburon and Belvedere. Other chemicals could also be used.
Before its use in Santa Cruz and Monterey last year, the pesticide, a hormone that throws off the scents of mating moths, had been used aerially only over farms, and never over populated areas.
When 600 residents of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties reacted to LBAM spraying with various respiratory symptoms ranging from asthma attacks, difficulty breathing, to eye and throat irritation, many local residents joined California Alliance to Stop Spraying (CASS) to fight the continued spraying program. Stop The Spray (www.stopthespray.org) is a grass-roots movement that first started in October of 2007, as a public response to massive aerial sprayings of thousands of people on the Monterey Peninsula. It has organizations throughout the entire Bay Area, East Bay and Marin. Four bills have been introduced to the CA legislation requesting more information and consent of CA citizens for the spraying program. Read the bills by logging on to www.leginfo.ca.gov.
Links:
www.forum.stopthespray.org --_ Community forum on aerial pesticide spraying
www.myspace.com/testlbamspray --_ MySpace site
More News:
No Splendor in this Grass
The Peril of Plastic
Sustainability News
Marin Teens, Solid Global Citizens
New Green Product
Consumers Fume at the Pumps
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